Ok to mix SCSI & SATA on same computer?

[gerrym]

I have an HP xw6200 workstation that came with 2 146GB UW SCSI hd's. The computer also happens to have SATA support on the motherboard. Can I simply replace my 2nd hard drive with a 2TB SATA drive and keep my primary hd as the 146GB SCSI? Thanks.

[Pixels303]

why not.
The 2TB drive would likely outperform your two 146Gb drives, but if you like SCSI, why not?

[MRFS]

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...D=c00215315#A5

NOTE: Mixed SATA/SCSI configurations are not supported under Linux.

You didn't mention which OS you are running.


From all of the details above, and from an overview of the
motherboard photograph, my best guess is that your SATA
ports run at 150 MB/second. The 10,000 rpm HDDs also
look like early Raptors, which also ran at 150 MB/second.

There is no need to "replace" your SCSI drive,
if the motherboard's SATA ports are currently empty.

150 MB/second is NOT really a penalty as such
for modern SATA HDDs, because only one or two
of the very best 15,000 rpm HDDs are now exceeding
that raw data transfer speed.

Most are just now approaching that speed, and
all 7,200 rpm SATA HDDs are still hovering
around 110-120 MB/second, thanks to the
advent of perpendicular magnetic recording.

I would suggest that you take a close look at
one of Western Digital's RAID Edition 3 ("RE3") HDDs e.g.
this one is fabulous because of its 32 MB cache:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136313

Here's the latest 2TB model, with 64 MB cache (not stocked by Newegg):

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=732

Here's the complete Product List of WD's internal HDDs:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/produ...sp?language=en


This suggestion is not meant to disparage the other
manufacturers at all, such as Seagate, Hitachi or Samsung:
it's just that I've had a lot of experience with WD,
going back many years, and I have seen a significant
improvement in the realiability of their "enterprise-class" HDDs.

Now, one more thing: because WD's RE3 & RE4 HDDs now default
to 300 MB/second, you'll need to add a jumper to pins 5 and 6
(counting from the right), because your motherboard most
probably runs its SATA ports at 150 MB/second. See the
WD "Jumper Settings" document here:

http://www.supremelaw.org/systems/wd...r.settings.pdf
(see Figure 2., circled "4")


Hope this helps.


MRFS

[gerrym]

Originally Posted by Pixels303

why not.
The 2TB drive would likely outperform your two 146Gb drives, but if you like SCSI, why not?

It's really because I'm lazy and don't want to re-install my OS!

[gerrym]

Sorry, I'm running Windows 7 Pro-64. So it appears that it's probably a good idea to simply replace my 3 SCSI HD's with one big 2TB SATA drive? I was initially looking for the simplest solution but I hadn't thought how this would help power consumption as well, because I will be removing 3 SCSI HD's and one SCSI PCI Controller.

Many thanks for the detailed information, much appreciated!

Originally Posted by MRFS

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...D=c00215315#A5

NOTE: Mixed SATA/SCSI configurations are not supported under Linux.

You didn't mention which OS you are running.


From all of the details above, and from an overview of the
motherboard photograph, my best guess is that your SATA
ports run at 150 MB/second. The 10,000 rpm HDDs also
look like early Raptors, which also ran at 150 MB/second.

There is no need to "replace" your SCSI drive,
if the motherboard's SATA ports are currently empty.

150 MB/second is NOT really a penalty as such
for modern SATA HDDs, because only one or two
of the very best 15,000 rpm HDDs are now exceeding
that raw data transfer speed.

Most are just now approaching that speed, and
all 7,200 rpm SATA HDDs are still hovering
around 110-120 MB/second, thanks to the
advent of perpendicular magnetic recording.

I would suggest that you take a close look at
one of Western Digital's RAID Edition 3 ("RE3") HDDs e.g.
this one is fabulous because of its 32 MB cache:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136313

Here's the latest 2TB model, with 64 MB cache (not stocked by Newegg):

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=732

Here's the complete Product List of WD's internal HDDs:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/produ...sp?language=en


This suggestion is not meant to disparage the other
manufacturers at all, such as Seagate, Hitachi or Samsung:
it's just that I've had a lot of experience with WD,
going back many years, and I have seen a significant
improvement in the realiability of their "enterprise-class" HDDs.

Now, one more thing: because WD's RE3 & RE4 HDDs now default
to 300 MB/second, you'll need to add a jumper to pins 5 and 6
(counting from the right), because your motherboard most
probably runs its SATA ports at 150 MB/second. See the
WD "Jumper Settings" document here:

http://www.supremelaw.org/systems/wd...r.settings.pdf
(see Figure 2., circled "4")


Hope this helps.


MRFS

[gerrym]

A couple of other issues I'd like to confirm before I take the plunge.

1) Will my general computer performance appear the same with the 2TB SATA drive vs. the 146GB SCSI? I ask because, while this computer is 3 years old, I am extremely happy with the speed at which things work. I know the SATA data transfer speeds are comprable to SCSI just wanted to make sure there wasn't something else on SCSI that impacted the general performance?

2) Would it be possible to create an image of my existing SCSI drive using the Windows 7 drive imaging tool and burn that image to the new SATA drive? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm a complete novice on this and didn't know if there were some SCSI vs. SATA nuances that would preclude me from doing this? It sure would be nice! Thanks again.

[gerrym]

Is this the drive you're referring to?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-365-_-Product

Originally Posted by MRFS

<snip>

Here's the latest 2TB model, with 64 MB cache (not stocked by Newegg):

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=732

<snip>

MRFS